I Make Terrible Movies to Stay Alive, So How Did I Become the Industry's Conscience?

Fei Ming is an actor. Still young, he has terminal cancer. Just as he has made peace with waiting to die, he gets bound to a System.

The System says it can extend his life. How much time he gets depends on the performance of the film and television projects he takes part in. He can participate as an actor, screenwriter, director, or investor.

Career-minded Fei Ming: There's an opportunity like this?

There is, but there's a tiny catch: in the formula for calculating his extra lifespan, a project's popularity, reputation, and profits are either in the denominator or preceded by a minus sign.

After studying it for a while, Fei Ming concludes that he needs to make terrible movies.

He's an actor with high standards. How could he make terrible movies?!

System: You have less than ninety days left.

Fei Ming: I can do it! One of the ways to participate is as an investor, right? I'll just invest in terrible movies. Easy!

Question: What kind of production can complete the entire process of approval, filming, censorship, release, and recouping its investment within ninety days?

Answer: Online movies!

One day to write the script, two days to assemble the crew, ten days to finish filming. The promotional art screams cheap and shoddy. Nobody would click on it, and anyone who did would only curse it.

But then netizens say they're numb from watching it, call it a rural cyberpunk absurdist realism drama, and give it a score of 9.7!

Fei Ming: My life!

Low-budget projects are too unreliable. One careless hit, and a small investment can bring huge returns. He needs a big budget, lots of competition, and a cliched, melodramatic plot. Come forth, xianxia dramas!

The industry makes several or even dozens of xianxia dramas every year. Competition is fierce, and it's easy to get buried. Flopping should be no problem.

He'll also take jabs at other xianxia dramas in the plot, sure to offend his peers, other drama fans, and the actors' fans. He'll be sabotaged by rival fandoms and cursed into oblivion. Popularity and reputation will both go straight down!

Instead, netizens say the drama voices everything they've wanted to say while watching other xianxia dramas. Film and TV commentators are lining up to analyze it, viewership keeps climbing, and advertisers come swarming in...

Fei Ming is on the brink of death, coughing up blood as he lies in the ICU.

No! He refuses to accept his fate!

After careful consideration, he decides to make a food drama. The lead is over fifty and weighs 150 pounds! Surely nobody will watch!

What? CCTV bought it for prime time, and its ratings beat the evening news?!

He was wrong. Why make TV dramas? They cost nothing to watch, and people can leave them on as background noise without paying attention. He should make movies instead.

First, Journey to the West. The value of that IP has already been wrung dry. It has to fail!

Then, Dream of the Red Chamber. Nobody's made a movie of it even after ruining Journey to the West, obviously because there's no market and it's hard to adapt. This one can fail too!

And he has to make science fiction. Set in ancient times, but still science fiction. How absurd does it have to be? Doesn't it sound like a terrible movie? Hmph, he'll be the one to close the door on Chinese sci-fi!

He believes he can mass-produce terrible movies and live to a hundred!

Theme: Even unintentional efforts can bring unexpected success.